June 2016 Blog Posts (2)

Does anyone have information about a derailment that happened in Willits, sometime between 1958-1960?

According to my brother, someone left a switch unlocked and two ten year old kids threw the switch while a train was going over it at about 50 MPH. It was a huge wreck that took out a massive amount of track and communication wires, and it came close to taking out the depot as well. I have been unable to unearth any trace of this on the internet. (But, I did learn that you can buy…

My brother, now nearing age 76, worked for NWP in 1958 & 1959 and probably part of 1960. We were watching a 1930's movie about a runaway train that had been sabotaged and it reminded him of an incident at the Island Mountain Tunnel and the trestle at the South entrance. Perhaps another old timer will recall the incident.

It was another case of the Eel River raging out of control and Charlie Neal was on the scene. He feared the river was going to wash out the trestle and he…